Arc-en-Ciel
by Welt Ende
Summary: Haruyuki and his friends are being united thanks to the game known as Brain Burst, in the past Kirito and his friends also met each other through the SAO incident too... but what if there was someone else? Someone who is linked to the Brain Burst more than anyone else? Would Nega Nebulas discover the mystery of the game they loves so much through Nikaidou Shinku?
1. Nikaidou Shinku

**A/N.: To the readers who have read my fanfic on Accel World named "Arc-en-Ciel" ("Rainbow" in French language) in the past, here is the remake of my first fanfic, I thought about it for a while and rewrited the same unchanged storyline with some modifications though, this time as a crossover between Accel World and Sword Art Online. In my story, the story of Accel World would take place after Sword Art Online and the characters of the latter would be at least mentioned and being related to my OC in a way. Please enjoy and review!**

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"Did you knew? That virtual world was infinite, even more than the real world where we are living." One day, all of the sudden, such a thing was told to him.

A young boy under 10 years old with slightly wavy wine-colored hair and matching eyes of the same color were looking at the middle-aged man from over his shoulders, he was currently playing playing games online with him. "Why suddenly?" He asked so because his uncle suddenly blurted that out of the blue, and he was so taken aback the timing that he missed the final step in his game turn and lost against the final boss. "Aah! I lost! Because Uncle said something like that all of the sudden I lost!"

"Eh? I am sorry, I didn't excepted you to stop suddenly like that." The man apologized wryly. He had short black hair that start to turn grey due to him aging and black eyes.

"Uu... It was a world tournament and I lost it..."

"I–I'm really sorry." Seeing how much the boy was saddened over the loss, the man apologized, "But there would be other occasions so don't be too depressed about it, okay?"

"Uncle is just saying that because he is trying to get himself out of trouble."

"Ahaha... Did I got found?" The older man laughed awkwardly.

"Because of that you always make Auntie angry!"

"So you know about that too...?" Although the two weren't related by blood, his parents were strongly acquainted with this man and they often met with each other, now they considered each other as family and he called him 'Uncle' by courteasy. Because if he were to call his wife 'Grandma', she would get angry even though he doesn't mind it particularly being called 'Grandpa' since he had yet grandchildren. The boy also seems to have inherited his passion of games much to his wife's disappointment, and because of that the two argue from time to time but still act as newlyweds. It was currently during summer vacation and the boy didn't needed to go to school, he stayed at their house when her parents are too busy with work.

"But I didn't told her that I let you participate at a world game tournament so let's keep it a secret, shall we?" He shushed the boy, brought him on his laps and tickled him on the sides, he did his best to hold his laughter as he was shaking and almost fell from his laps. "Ahaha~! Uncle, it tickles!"

"Is that so? Is it over here? Or over there~?" He didn't stop with his tickling hell and the boy jumped out of his laps for redemption, "Phew... I thought that I was going to be a goner..."

"Don't say such a thing when you are still a kid. It's going to bring back misfortune in the future."

"Eh?! Is that so?!"

"Kidding."

"Geez~!" The little boy hit at the man's chest with his tiny fists rolled into punches. Of course it doesn't hurt, on the other hand it was incredibly soft, a child's strength can't hurt an adult after all, so the older man only laughed in response. "Ahaha! Got it, got it! Please stop~" Of course his voice sounded more amused than pleading for something truthfully, the little boy noticed that and pouted in response.

Suddenly the boy was reminded of something and then asked, "By the way didn't you said that virtual world are more infinite than the real one? Why did you said that?"

The man was surprised that the boy managed to remember his earlier words after all this time and smiled to himself, "Nothing that you needs to know for now, just something that your parents and us are working on, I'm sure that you'll understand one day." He refused to tell more no matter how much the boy asked about it so he gave up in the end.

"Shinkkun~? Are you there~?" Suddenly another girlish voice called the boy from outside by the window, it was a girl slightly older than him with light brown hair and light blue eyes, she was waving at her, "We are going to play all together but are you coming~?"

The boy with wine-colored hair and eyes, recognized the girl in front of him with a smile immediately growing on his face. "Fuu-chan! But..." He looked at his 'uncle' hesitantly on wherever he should left his sides or not. He just smiled in response and waved him to go on. "Just go, Auntie would be angry if I keep you here playing online games all the time with me."

"Hn... I promise I'll go back before dinner!" With that the boy ran outside to his friend.

The man, him, just stared at the cloudless summer sky that was presented to him from the opening of the window and was reminding himself of the time of the past he lived through with his friends and what he should do for the boy from now on.

 **[A few years later...]**

10 years later, a young man in his teens currently with wavy wine-colored hair and eyes was looking at himself in a mirror, he was wearing the uniform of his new school. He looked at the photo in his room, showing himself and an eldery couple, the man from his memories and his wife.

He then gave a last look at himself in the mirror. _'It's alright, isn't it? I don't look weird anywhere, don't I?'_ It was a little embarrassing to see himself checking on his appearance but it was his first day in school since a long time so he was kind of nervous right now. Would he be able to make new friends at the school where he would be transferred? He gathered his courage with such thoughts and clapped his cheeks twice in determination after taking a deep breath, even though it had yet started he was already so nervous~

"Shinkkun~? It's almost time go~!"

"I got it! I'm coming down right now, Fuu-chan!" He gave a last look to the photo he treasured so much before descending down the stairs and joined the person calling out to him.

 _'Uncle, Auntie, please wish me good luck!'_ This was the beginning fo a new lifestyle, Nikaidou Shinku was going to meet other people similar to him at Umesato Junior High School.

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 **A/N.: I will also include the Accel World x Sword Art Online game in this fic. There is no YAOI allusion in this chapter** **! The earlier presented scene is just the typical scene between a parent and his child or more precisely an eldery uncle and his really young nephew here! Shinku was originally supposed to be of female gender but I have decided to write about a male one because I have noticed that I wrote too much fanfics with female OCs, the plot is the same though, don't worry! As long that you are fine with a male OC... besides "Shinku" can be a name for both boys and girls (I checked it myself!), though it is more of the latter than the former.**


	2. The mysterious Linker

**A/N.: I'm happy that I already got my first review and fanfic follower! Let's wait for the number to escalate then! Feel free to review and tell me your opinion so I can improve in the better! By the way this scene was taken from the second OVA. It would be a little different of the previous fanfic but the plot would stay the same so please don't worry about it!**

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"Good work, everyone!" The team of Nega Nebulus just won against an enemy team today in the Accelerated World, it was until recently that Kurasaki Fuuko―Sky Raker, a fellow Burst Linker like them but of a higher level and an acquaintance of long time of Black Lotus, the Black King and one of the highest level player―also called Kuroyukihime in the real world (though it is just an alias and the reason for why she refuse to say her real name stay unknown) who is the upperclasswoman of the newbie trio, which was composed of Arita Haruyuki also called Silver Crow who is the only flying avatar, Kurashima Chiyuri alias Lime Bell with her healing ability and Mayuzumi Takumu who was formerly a part of the Blue Legion but joined the Black one with his two childhood friends.

"Our territory battle win ratio today is 75%. It's the highest score we've ever gotten." A young man with light brown hair and blue eyes with glasses―Mayuzumi Takumu said as he crossed his fingers together. Now they were back to the real world, in Haruyuki's flat or more precisely in his living room.

"You feel so safe with Fuuko-neesan behind you." A girl with pale pink eyes and brown short hair added, she also wear a cat-shaped pin in her hair. She is Kurashima Chiyuri, and to be clear her and Kurasaki Fuuko aren't related, it is just an affectionate way to refer to a close acquaintance.

Then an attractive young girl with long black hair and hazel eyes, her hair has two strands of hair extended from the top of her brow which resemble to the antenna of a butterfly―the 'most beautiful girl of her school', Kuroyukihime took her teacup and drank some slightly before speaking again, "Indeed. But Fuuko won't agree to come here often, though."

"How mean, Sacchan! Didn't I came today?" A young woman slightly older than them and wearing different uniforms from their Umesato Junior High School's ones, showing that she isn't a middle-schooler anymore but a high-schooler young woman, was a beautiful young woman who didn't lose against Kuroyukihime in terms of appearance. She had long flowy light brown hair and a pair of luminous blue eyes, she is Kurasaki Fuuko. She was the only one besides Haruyuki to know the Black King's real name.

"Today is one of the rare exceptions."

"Geez!" Their close interactions showed how long the two knew each other. After observing it for a while, Takumu decided to interrupt them as he defended Fuuko, "It can't be helped. Raker-san lives in Shibuya and it is pretty far from here."

"See? Pile does understand, him." They were refering to each other with the pseudonyms they were given in the game all of them were sharing, Brain Burst.

"Yeah." Seeing that the two were against her, Kuroyukihime couldn't help but giggle and as she was about to open her mouth once again she was interrupted by Chiyuri's shout and a small ring coming from the kitchen. "Haru, you're eating again?!"

"Who cares? We fought six battles today and I'm starving now." The one who came out of the kitchen while carrying a box of pizza was Takumu and Chiyuri's childhood friends, he is short and a large (fat) person with brown hair and black eyes. His bodyline with the uniform made him look like a round pig.

Chiyuri then pouted and narrowed her eyes, "But in the real world, barely 30 minutes have passed since you had Mama's lasagna." Since Haruyuki's parents were divorced and he was living with his often absent mother who had to work, Chiyuri's mother often cooked for them and Takumu who had strict parents were often joining them since their childhood.

However it was not like he cared about it anyway, "We fought for half a day in the virtual world." The time between the virtual world of Brain Burst and the real one are far different, it is sure that the longer you stayed in the former and the shorter time would pass in the latter. And due to his body consistence, Haruyuki would be soon hungry even if he just ate.

Then as if she was reminded of something by the conversation just now, Chiyuri asked to her childhood friend who was enjoying himself with the pizza that didn't seems suited for his already fat appearance. "Haru, there's something I want to check with you. Your results for last week's physical examination were okay, right?"

"Yeah, I only got a message saying I have t get rechecked in 2 weeks' time." He said absentmindedly, too concentrated on his pizza, and didn't even noticed how grave his words were for his friends who stood up from the shock. "Huh?" "Really, Haru?!"

"Um, yeah."

"That might be bad, Haruyuki-kun." This time it was his senior, Kuroyukihime, who was silent up until earlier who spoke, and it was because of that that he finally got out of his earlier trance, "How come?"

"They've implemented a score system for physical exams starting this year. Students unable to meet the standard are required to participate in a health-improvement program."

"E–eh?"

"You didn't know? It said so in the message, Haru." Takumu added and it didn't helped to the boy's situation, "I think... I read it?"

"I bet you just ignored it! When you get a notice you don't like, you pretend you didn't see it and forget about it. It happens all the time" Chiyuri glared at Haruyuki from the sofa. It must be from childhood experience considering his grades or anything.

"N–no, it doesn't!"

"Nah, it does happen all the time, Haru." This time Takumu too narrowed his eyes at him. "Taku, you too?!"

"Oh my~" Fuuko just watched the scene with a hand on her face, amused by the current situation.

"This could be a problem though, Master." Takumu said as he turned to Kuroyukihime who agreed after adopting a thoughtful expression, "Yes, you're right."

"What do you mean?"

"The health-improvement program takes place every Saturday from afternoon till night. What's more, you have to go to the clinic in your district. You'd be isolated from the globalnet."

"Eh?! But that would mean..." Haruyuki trailed off as realization start to struck his mind.

Kuroyukihime then finished Takumu's explanation, "If you end up in the program, you can no longer participate in the territory battles."

"No, no way!" Though he was panicked, Haruyuki still tried to finish the piece of pizza present in his hand―

"You're still eating?!" ―Before being hit by the virtual green paper fan that Chiyuri was using, stars danced ironically even though there was no pain or whatever, Haruyuki still stood up with tears in his eyes, "It'd be such a waste not to!"

"But this is a real problem though, Haru." With that both Chiyuri and Takumu approached him in a lecturing mode which made him falter a little bit and before he could voice out his confusion, Takumu continue his speaking, "You only have two choices. Get a better score in the re-examination 2 weeks later, or give and participate in the program."

"C–can't I choose to keep everything as is?"

Takumu's glasses shined for a second like in a comic manga before a stern gaze fell upon Haruyuki's frightened self, "No. Too bad for you."

Haruyuki's shoulders then slumped in despair, "Uh, so what exactly do I have to do in order to improve my physical exam score?"

"I'm sure you already know, Haru." The answer was evident: to lose weight. As Haruyuki was still depressed in anticipation over his future and hard training, Chiyuri suddenly started to become strangely enthousiastic about it. "You're so hopeless! Say Haru, why don't we pretend you got tricked to let me handle the whole of next week?"

"I hate being tricked." He scowled, remembering things of the past that he would rather forget.

"Then pretend you got bitten by a dog."

That's even worse!" Both of them were as stubborn than the other. "So you don't mind being unable to help out in territory battles?"

"O–of course not..."

"Then you have no choice!" Chiyuri then point to her childhood friend who suddenly flinched because of the unexcepted action, "Okay, Haru! Prepare yourself! I, Chiyuri-san, who has tried every method of slimming down under the sun, will get you so slim that even Silver Crow would be surprised!" In contrast of his real self, Haruyuki's avatar was shockingly slim after all.

"Fufufu! It does seems quite interesting, don't you think so Sacchan?" Fuuko giggled before adressing herself to her best friend only to find her with a worried and pensive expression on her face when she was about to call out to her she suddenly received a message and after reading it, she suddenly stood up and her sudden act surprised the others. "What's wrong, Fuuko?"

Fuuko then smiled wryly as she put her hands together in apology, "I'm sorry Sacchan! I suddenly had a certain appointment and can't stay here any longer!"

"Is that so? Indeed, if you stay here too long you might miss the last train towards Shibuya. Then I shall report the results to you afterwards."

"Thank you! Crow-san, I am disappointed of the fact that I can't be of any help here but I'll cheer on you from the bottom of my heart!"

"It, it is fine thank you!" It was Haruyuki who was grateful that Fuuko didn't got to help him, because he still had shudders when he was remembering his training in the Accelerated World where she pushed him off a cliff in order to make him learn a killer move, so he was even more frightened of what she might do to him in the reality... because despite her gentle appearance she had quite the sadistic mind!

"But still, what is this business in question, Master?" Haruyuki asked and Fuuko giggled as she put a finger on her lips and winked into a cutesy manner, "It is rude to ask girls their secrets, Crow-san~"

"E–eh?! I–I'm sorry!" Though Haruyuki's face color flushed slightly, it paled immediately when Kuroyukihime and Chiyuri were glaring at him in a rather aggressive manner and was sending a fearful gaze to Takumu who only averted his eyes guiltily. Seeing this opportunity, Fuuko quickly took her escape before being questioned herself, after all, women's jealousy were the reason of many carnages.

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 _'Thanks goodness I have made it in time for the last train...'_ Fuuko was painting slightly because it had been a long time since she ran so hardly after she got her legs back. It was a nostalgic feeling that she did missed and that artificial legs couldn't provide, though it was tiring she didn't dislike it.

"Ah, that's right!" She then decided to call out the person who had messaged her earlier, it must because of the bad reception because only the sound was provided and the face of the person she was talking to couldn't be seen. "Hello?"

 _"Where are you? I tried to contact you many times but you never answered, it got me worried!"_

"Sorry, I was being at a friend's house, but now I'm on my way back so you can't stop worrying."

 _"Geez, next time be sure to tell me this beforehand, okay?"_

"Okay, okay. Well putting that aside, how did today's examination went?"

 _"Quite well, the doctors said that I would be able to live normally again!"_

"It's great!"

 _"Yeah! I've had enough of hospital food and re-education was continuing for a long time, so I'm really happy that everything is over! Though I still need to have some monthly examinations for the rest of the year to check on my current condition."_

"I see."

 _"And didn't you said you went to your friend? I heard that you reconcilied with her, I'm happy for you!"_

"Thank you! And with more new members in the Nega Nebulus make things really fun!"

 _"...Eh?"_

"Hm? What's wrong?"

 _"N–no, nevermind. Your friend is part of the Black Legion? I didn't know..."_

"Not only part of it, she is the leader!"

 _"Heh? The Black Legion have now a new leader just like in the Red one? I didn't knew that either..."_

"What are you talking about? Sacchan―Black Lotus is still the leader of Nega Nebulus."

 _"...?!"_ The voice on the other side gasped slightly before continuing. _"So... Black Lotus is finally back, huh...?"_

Fuuko then found it strange and called out of worry, "Are you fine? Is there something with it?"

 _"...No, it's nothing. I just heard that she disappeared for a moment so I didn't knew that she would reappear, I was just surprised."_

"I see...?" It was understandable, since Black Lotus was chased by the other Kings due to her public assassination of the Red Rider, it was normal to be shocked over her recent return. _'Yet why did I suddenly had a bad feeling?'_

 _"Anyway, though today is a little too late, I'm counting on you to visit me tomorrow!"_

"Ah, yeah!" And with that the call ended. Fuuko was left pensive in the silence but didn't had the time to think any longer as she stood up and descended from the train when it arrived at her station.

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In a hospital room at night, a single figure with neither the face could been seen due to the darkness of the room without lights. The person who seems like a man with the length of his short hair hair looked through the window near his bed and lightly touched his Neuro Linker before muttering softly those words: " _Black Lotus... the traitor who killed Red Rider_."

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 **A/N.: Here is the chapter! Please review if you like it or dislike it! Though you may already have a small idea of who this mysterious person can be, it would be totally revealed in the next chapters so please wait for it! And a special thanks to _Shiranai Atsune_ who liked and followed my story!**

 **[** **REVIEW CORNER** **]**

 ** _Guest's_** _ **review at the previous chapter:**_ "Finally~ It's back! I was waiting for this!"

 _ **My answer to your review:**_ I'm really happy that you waited for my story's comeback all this time, please enjoy it throughfully once again!


	3. The fated meeting

**A/N.:** **I am sorry for the late update, I was busy with updating my main fanfic but now that I have reached its 10th chapter, I'll try to update my others more often! Some of the scene are taken from the 1st OVA, please enjoy and review!**

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"I'm gonna be late!" Haruyuki ran down the stairs from the nearest train station with a toast in his mouth but tripped at the end which made the toast fly into the air in a slow motion. Haruyuki extended his hand in despair as he screamed, "My breakfast!" And watching it falling closer and closer to the ground...

"Eh?" Only for it to be caught into the hand of a girl wearing the same uniform as his before it fall on the ground. Haruyuki looked up to see his childhood friend, Chiyuri, with his toast in hand and raised it in a greeting, "Morning, Haru!" He was about to thanks her for saving his toast and ask her to give it back, but―

"Did you knew? The finder of a lost article can take 20% of it as a reward." She looked at him with a mischevious grin while Haruyuki hesitated, was it a riddle? But if he had to give 20% of his toast then he wouldn't have much to eat it afterwards, he even missed breakfast because he woke up late this morning...

"W–well... 5%, then!" He raised the five fingers of his hand in response as Chiyuri just shook her head, "A selfish person like you gets to lose 20% as divine punishment!" And with that she bite happily into the toast near the spot where Haruyuki bitted in much to his shock, did that meant that he would lose even more of the small breakfast he already had?!

"Morning." A cold voice ringed behind them but Haruyuki froze before turning nervously towards the source of it, his upperclassmen in school and the 'Parent' who introduced him to the Brain Burst, "Kuroyukihime-senpai!"

She stared between the two childhood friends but seemed strangely displeased? "Friendly together early in the morning, as usual. How nice." Though she said that, her voice didn't sounded happy at all.

Haruyuki hastily bowed as he apologized in a repetitive manner, "I–I'm sorry! I apologize! I'll never do it again! It's all my fault!" The black-haired young woman was worthy of her title of Level 9 and taking count of how scary she was, he didn't wanted to anger her further even though he was completely unaware of what he might have done to put her in such a bad mood.

"Haru, what was supposed to mean?!" Chiyuri, too, was displeased. One of the reasons was because Haruyuki always apologized even if it wasn't of his fault and the other is because that just like their Legion Master, she too held romantic feelings towards the owner of the Silver Crow avatar, unfortunately it was unrequited.

As he felt that now, not only his senior but also his childhood's friends anger are directed towards him, Haruyuki turned to Chiyuri and held his hands in a defensive manner as he tried to calm their boiling wraths before it burst out. "O–oh right! I'm on morning duty today. So I'm seeing the two of you later!"

"Wait, Haru!" Chiyuri took the toast out of her mouth and wanted to extend her hands in order to pull the running Haruyuki back but she accidentally swinged the arm with the toast in it which flew again in the air...

 ***PAF!*** Only to find itself smashed against the face of a passing person. The surprise was so much that all of them found themselves staring at the sight with wide opened eyes, Haruyuki almost tripped on the way.

"Ah, I–I'm really sorry!" Chiyuri bowed and apologized to the still unmoving person who seems to be unable to react correctly at the weird situation he found himself in. It was easy to see that he is a young man with his attire. The said person then took off the toast sticking on his face and then watched Haruyuki and his comrades. It was a young man around their ages with wavy wine-colored hair and eyes. "...Is this perhaps yours?" He asked as he handed the toast to the dazed Haruyuki who could only nods in response.

"Please next time be sure to not throw your breakfast around, okay?"

"Y–yes, sorry!" Haruyuki hastily bowed once again as the boy walked past across him, surely heading out towards somewhere. Then something about him caught his attention...

 _'Huh? Isn't the school uniform he's wearing the same as us...?'_ What he was wearing was without doubt the uniform of the Umesato Junior High School, the same one that he, Chiyuri and Kuroyukihime were wearing. Yet he didn't remembered seeing a boy with such a distinguable hair color in his previous school years before, was he a transfer student? But if so then why was he going to the opposite direction of the school, was he perhaps skipping classes? If so then it isn't good, specially if Kuroyukihime who is the student council president of the school―

"...Haruyuki-kun. Was that person an acquaintance of yours?"

"Eh? He isn't though..."

"Is that so? He seemed to know you though, perhaps you passed across each other one time ago?"

 _'If I had met someone like this I would have remembered though...'_

"But still he was sure cute! Maybe in a few years he'll look even better?! Say, Haru, are you perhaps jealous~?" Chiyuri taunted but Haruyuki didn't took its meaning as he answered, "Why should I be jealous?" Of course he didn't noticed Chiyuri who pouted in response and huffed away, yeah it would be perfect if he had just stopped here, but―

"Still he was really good-looking... somehow it makes me envious." Indeed, the young man's appearance could be a good match for Kuroyukihime's appearance or Fuuko's, though he looked a bit effeminate with his face that could be mistook for a woman's, too bad that he didn't had such a stature himself otherwise Haruyuki would be sure that he wouldn't be as bullied he used to be. He didn't noticed the effect of his words on the two girls that worked like a bombardement. When he looked back at them again he was surprised to see them sending him an horrified gaze with their skins worringly pale.

"H–Haruyuki-kun...?" Kuroyukihime began but couldn't finish until Chiyuri did it in her place, just what was getting them so scared about him? Did he said something bad...? "Haru... don't tell me you actually swing _that way_?!"

"...Eh?"

 **...**

"EH―?!" Now, he understood! With how he phrased it now, those two thought that he was... that he was...! AH! Just the thought of it was horryfying! "Of course I'm not!"

"B–but you just said that he was good-looking..."

"I was just envious of his good looks!" What would it be on tomorrow's newpaper? Arita Haruyuki; actually is he a ho*o? Hell no! No matter if the boy has a feminine face! Yet no matter how hard he tried to explain those two didn't seems on wanting to believe him, how painful! Is that all their friendship were?! So fragile to be destroyed by a simple misunderstanding?! He was normal, straight! While he was thinking on how he should escape from this situation that was even more dangerous than when he fought Dusk Taker, the sound of a motorcycle stopping behind him was head which made all of them turning towards the familiar maid of the Red Legion taking off her helmet, she then turned to the stunned Haruyuki. "Harry? K, I'll give you a ride to school."

"P–Pard-san?" Her avatar's name is Blood Leopard―real name; Kakei Mihaya. But before he could say anything back an extra helmet had been shoved on his head and he was grabbed by his collar and then the motorbike started to run again; but Haruyuki was held like a kite by Mihaya's hand and screamed all along the way. The two other girls could only look at them in shock but Chiyuri responded while screaming, "Hey, Haru!" But unfortunately he was so far away that he couldn't hear her anymore, Chiyuri then pouted angrily, "Geez, you're always being helped by girls!" Now their suspicions about his sexuality towards his same gender was now changed into jealousy towards _their_ same genders.

"..." However unlike Chiyuri who was openly showing her displeasure, Kuroyukihime could only turn her gaze away in a sad manner.

A little more away was the familiar-looking wine-haired young man who observed them with a curious eye before sighing and walked away. _'What weird people.'_ He thought as he directed himself towards the place where he was supposed to meet up with his childhood friend.

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At the cafe where Kuroyukihime and Haruyuki once went, a brown-haired light blue-eyed young woman―Fuuko―was sitting on a table while drinking her tea and checking occasionally the hours on a nearby clock, the childhood friend that she was waiting for seems to be late, she just got discharged from the hospital, did something happened to him? Those kinds of worries always came into her mind. He was younger than her of one year and still in middle school, would he truly be alright on her own?

 ***Cling~*** When she was thinking like that, the door of the cafe suddenly opened with the ring of the bell on it, Fuuko raised her eyes to see her childhood friend and with a relieved smile stood up and waved to her to announce her presence here, "Shinkkun~!"

"Fuu-chan! Didn't I already told you to stop calling me like that? Geez... it's embarrassing in public." The boy's name was Nikaidou Shinku, and he walked towards the table where her childhood friend sat down as he ignored the giggles of some people around them while other watched them with an envious look; it was a pair of handsome boy and beautiful girl so they surely thought that the two were on a date (this is where someone would normally shout 'Riajuu should explode!' but let's keep ourselves quiet in a café), "But still I'm sorry for the wait, something unusual happened on my way here so it stopped me for a little while."

"Ahaha! Sorry, sorry." Fuuko apologized with an amused smile, seeing her friend's reaction toward her childhood nickname utterly amusing! But then she remembered about what her friend just said which caught her mind, "What do you mean by unusual? And what happened to your face?! Don't tell me you caught a cold suddenly?"

Shinku hidden his slightly red nose due to the burning toast attack from earlier, before scratching his cheek in a troubled yet embarrassed manner, "No, I'm not sick or anything and by 'unusual'... I mean 'unusual', well I'll tell you about it later." He averted his eyes towards the end of his sentence much to Fuuko's confusion as the latter cocked her head slightly on the side.

"Anyway, how about you try to order something first? Today is my treat to celebrate your dischargement from the hospital~"

"Really?!"

"But not anything that cost too much okay?" Shinku happily nodded as he gratefully took the menu from Fuuko's hands and opened it while looking at what he order first, being tired of the usual and disgusting (how can they call it healthy?) hospital food. Then he suddenly remembered something and closed it much to Fuuko's confusion once again, "What's wrong? You are not hungry?"

"I am, but let's keep it for later." Shinku smiled but his eyes were hidden behind her bangs, "More importantly, how about you tell me more about it?"

"Hm? About what?"

"About the most recent stories about Silver Crow and Black Lotus." Fuuko didn't noticed that time, but there was a slightly dark glint shining into Shinku's hazel eyes. Will he become an ally of Nega Nebulas? Or will he become a foe? At that time, none of them knew that the small meeting they had earlier would lead to one of the many hints that will reveal the secret behind the history of Brain Burst.

* * *

 **A/N.:** **That's all for now!**


	4. The future transfer student

**A/N.:** **It's been a while everyone! I managed to complete two of my fanfics (though one of them was a one-shot) so I think I would be able to update the others a little more through time to time!**

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One hour passed since Shinku and Fuuko reunited at the café, Fuuko was talking happily about how she recovered her legs in the Accelerated World while Shinku listened calmly to her stories taking an occasional time to eat or drink something before returning to nodding at her words or sometimes let out a small laugh. Fuuko laughed a little with him before raising her finger and smiled through their Direct-Link so that their conversation wouldn't be heard by unwanted attention, _"―And then you know what Sacchan did?"_

 ***Beep, beep! Beep, beep!***

"Eh?" Fuuko looked around in confusion after hearing the sound to search its source before Shinku recognized it and pressed a finger on his Neuro-Linker, a screen then appeared in front of him and he tapped a few things before smiling apologetically to Fuuko, _"Oops, sorry it's my alarm!"_

 _"Oh, are you leaving already?"_ Fuuko asked slightly disappointed when Shinku stood up from his chair and waved her slightly, _"Yeah. Maybe you didn't noticed but it is time for me to go to school now."_

 _"How bad... I was hoping to talk with you more."_

 _"Don't skip classes for that! Geez, since when did you became so irresponsable? It's nothing like the overly studious Fuu-chan that I knew though."_

 _"I don't get many occasions to speak with you..."_ Fuuko pouted childishly while Shinku's eyebrow twitched slightly. When you see them like that it is hard to believe that the girl was the older one between the two, _"...Technically you just saw me this morning before I went to my hospital check-up, right?"_

 _"There's no way that I can only content myself of such a short time~"_

 _"...You're aware that we saw each other yesterday too, right?"_

 _"Geez! Shinkkun is so cold recently! Is it the famous rebellious age that I have so much heard about? Onee-chan may die from loneliness you know?"_

 _"Are you supposed to be some kind of rabbit?"_ ―Yes, because even if they look like this, they weren't only childhood friends but also spend the most of their childhoods together, they often played together when they were children and even now maintened a strong bond with each other. Fuuko naturally thought herself as the older sister between the two even though there was barely one year in the difference of age.

Shinku could only sighs in response as he took out the cable from his Neuro-Linker and Fuuko did the same, but only after she was reminded of something, "That's right, Shinkkun! I want to ask you something!"

"If it's about skipping classes just for the sake of spending time with you then―"

"No, not that." Fuuko shook her head while Shinku raised an eyebrow and was waiting for her to finish her sentence. "I was going to ask if you know any diet methods."

"...Fuu-chan, are you going on a diet?" Seeing Shinku's 'completely at loss' expression made Fuuko giggles slightly as she quickly dissolve his misunderstanding, "No, not me of course! But someone of my acquaintance, a Burst Linker too to be more precise."

"Hm..." Shinku seemed thoughtful for a moment with a hand on his chin before he saw the hour showed on the clock in the café and quickly took his bag before waving at Fuuko, "Sorry Fuu-chan, I'll think about it and recontact you later on!"

"Mm! See you later!" With that Shinku exited the café lefting Fuuko alone dealing with the small bill, he made sure to commend some cheap things in order to not burden her since she was the one treating him. On normal times he would have waited for her but he was already late for school today (though he called them beforehand to warn them about it, the reason being his check-up in the hospital and not going out with his cousin).

Once he passed across the corner of the road and he was at a distance safe enough from the café, he lessen the knot of his necktie a little to make it easier to breath as he sighed, "It's not like I dislike Fuu-chan's company on the contrary, but somtimes her overaffectional attitude is a little suffocating..."

 ***Beep, beep***

"Hm? Ah, it's _her_ again." Not his cousin Fuuko but someone who knew him as well as she did. It sounded similar to the alarm he programmed for himself earlier but it was different this time, it was not an alarm but a signal to tell about the arrival of a message, using his Neuro-Linker, Shinku opened it before his eyes slightly widened yet immediately narrowed. On the screen was written one single sentence without any other informations about it:

'Burst Linkers are present in Umesato Junior Highschool, Dusk Taker had been defeated by Nega Nebulas and his Brain Burst program got deleted.'

"I see..." Shinku hummed lightly yet his eyes was showing a serious expression before starting to walk away, directing himself towards the Umesato Junior High School where he would start studying from now on.

Then he received something else, not from the unknown sender but from the homeroom teacher of his future class, it seemed that he got informed of the reason of his lateness and then gave him beforehand the class where he would be but also photos of the students who would be his classmates so he could ask directions to them if he were to lost himself in his new environment and where to ask for help.

"..." Upon finding three photos among the mass, the three photos were showed a fat boy, a glasses guy and a girl with a cat-shaped hairclip. He then sended all those photos to his unknown contact which immediately responded him with a message: 'Silver Crow, Cyan Pile and Lime Bell.' under those same three, it said... Shinku's eyes were now hidden his bangs after he started to smile and looked up as he started to walk again, "To think that I would meet them so early... those Nega Nebulas rookies members."

* * *

 **A/N.:** **A special thanks to the people who had the kindness to review my story!**

 **[ REVIEW CORNER]**

 ** _longbowchris50_ _ ** _'_** s review at the previous chapter: _**"I like this."

 ** _My answer to your review:_** I'm glad that you liked this, and thank you for the review!


	5. A proper introduction

**A/N.:** **Welcome to the year of 2019! By the way, I've made a few modifications about the previous chapter as I have made a few errors in the order of things. I also removed the idea of Fuuko and Shinku being distant relatives, they would be just normal childhood friends!**

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"Aah... I seriously had it rough." Haruyuki mumbled in a depressed manner as he just walked out of the student council's room where he was supposed to meet up with Kuroyukihime. Instead he just got himself being interrogated by her friend, Wakamiya Megumi, who was awfully curious about the closeness between himself and his senpai... though he can hardly call it 'being close' though, after all for some reason the said girl was distant with him for the rest of the morning and even after she surprised both him and Megumi talking in the student council's room. ...And for some reason that was unknown to him, Megumi was quite angry at him for not 'understanding' why both her and Kuroyukihime were sulking.

 _'I can't understand Wakamiya-senpai... she said that she was envious of me, but no matter how we see it aren't she and Kuroyukihime-senpai far more close than she is with me? She knew her far longer than me, she even calls her by a nickname... And moreover I wasn't the only one that got to do a Direct Link with her... we did it only to enter into the Brain Burst together, so there was no particular meaning behind it... even though I told her that why did she got angry at me? I really don't understand women nowadays... well I never understood them to begin with it. Even Chiyu is so complicated too...'_ Haruyuki couldn't help but be further depressed, in the end he got ignored for the rest of the morning and didn't get to talk to his senpai since there. And they even had to reunite with the others at the end of the day after the classes to discuss about Brain Burst together too. If she was keeping on ignoring him even after that or even during the following days, he doesn't know how he should bear with it anymore... This is the routine of how Haruyuki who was too immersed into his thoughts―

"Oof...?!"

"Woah...!" ―That once again, he didn't noticed about how he ended up bumping into someone like he usually did. The shock was enough to make him fall backward and land on his butt, he started to groan in pain and it took a bit time for him to come back to his senses... until he heard another groan near him. This made him realize that what he bumped against wasn't an object or something but a living person like him! Thus he quickly opened his eyes to confirm it and saw much to his dismay that there was another person on the ground in front of him, he sat up and then rubbed his head.

"I–I–I–I, I am sorry! Are you alright?! Did you hurt your head?!" He quickly rushed to the other person in front of him with wine-colored hair, he noticed that it was a boy who was taller than him (well everyone was taller than him, even Niko) and wore their school's uniform.

The other young man shook his head away from the shock and then smiled at him, "No it's alright please don't worry, I wasn't looking at where I was going earlier too so―Huh?" Suddenly the young man's eyes widened and so did Haruyuki's as recognization flashed into their eyes as they pointed a finger at each other, "The person from this morning!"

"The guy who throw his toast at my face!"

"Uuh...!" Haruyuki's cheeks immediately flushed red in embarrassment and shame as he clearly remembered the shameful event he caused... well technically it wasn't him but Chiyuri, but still it did made him feel embarrassed. Of course that he wouldn't forget so easily about it, such a memorable thing! So he had no choice but to lower his head once again, "A–about that too, I'm sorry...!"

"And here I was wondering if you were doing it on purpose..."

"EH?! O–of course not! Such a thing..."

"Ahaha! It's alright! I perfectly understood that neither here and back then you did it on purpose! I was just joking but sorry if I had worried you seriously." With that the young man stood up and then extended a hand towards Haruyuki to help him up to. Haruyuki couldn't believe himself, not only he made the person fall but he was also helping him up?! He should be ashamed of himself yet he is relieved that he didn't encountered a scary teacher instead. It was then that he noticed that he had the other one's necktie color was the same as his own, blue, which meant that the two were of the same age. "Ah, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Arita Haruyuki, and you?"

"Arita Haruyuki..." He repeated the name in thought which intrigued Haruyuki, as he tilted his head slightly on the side in confusion with his hand still extended for him to shake, "Eh, yes...?"

"Ah, sorry." The young man then took his hand before shaking it, and then answered with a smile on his face: "I'm Nikaidou Shinku, it's nice to meet you too, Arita-kun."

* * *

"So you were truly a student from our school, Nikaidou-san?"

"Yeah, I just transfered. I had something to do this morning so I couldn't attend the classes right away. And thank you for taking me to the student council by the way, since I just came here I don't know the directions well."

"But, well... are you sure that you wanted it was me to guide you around? I mean, there should be far more better people for this..."

"Well since I just transfered, there is no familiar faces around and approaching strangers suddenly is awkward and... you literally ran into me so..."

"I–I see, you're right. Sorry for the stupid question." With that the two youths were walking in the hallway towards the direction of the student council room Haruyuki just left this morning. Haruyuki noticed many gazes over the two of them, or rather the majority of them were onto Shinku instead of him, the appearance of the young man was pretty striking after all. He also noticed a few girls whispering about him with a sheepish smiles onto their faces, but either Shinku wasn't aware of them or he was just ignoring the attention he got. Haruyuki found himself a bit envious of that, he wished that he could ignore the bullying he suffered from in the past but after meeting Kuroyukihime, he realized that waiting for it to be over would never change anything, if he wanted to change it then he had to do it with his own hands.

"It's this way." With that Haruyuki and Shinku arrived at the front door. Haruyuki was about to reach for the door but after remembering himself of the reaction of Kuroyukihime and Megumi about him made him slightly nervous, he was about to retract his hand but then remembered Shinku's presence near him who was still waiting for him to knock at the door, it was an excuse he could use for coming to see her, trying to harden his will he took a deep breath and approached his fist towards the door―

 ***Knock, knock***

"..." Haruyuki then backed off of the door, though he could still make a run for it and use Shinku as a shield (it's not like the person ehind the door knew who just knocked at it or anything) but he would feel bad to run away and leave Shinku here alone after the young man kindly forgave all the accidents that happened to him because of his fault.

 _"Enter."_ After hearing the familiar and dignified voice of his black-piano haired senpai through the closed door, Haruyuki braced himself and put his hand onto the doorknob before turning it and opening the door. Once he walked in, being followed by Shinku, he immediately saw changes in reaction between the two persons in the room, and it was not due to Shinku's presence but to his own.

"Haruyuki-kun?!" Kuroyukihime exclaimed, even standing up from her chair in surprise with her hands placed on the desk.

"...Arita-kun..." And in contrast Megumi just narrowed her eyes dangerously at him, her gaze made him feel chills descending down his spine, and the feeling of wanting to run away had never been as strong as ever.

"Your acquaintances?" On the other side, Shinku asked in a nonchalant manner, totally unaware of the situation Haruyuki was living through (which couldn't be helped the round boy thought, he just came here after all).

"Well, my senpais and members of the student coucil..." He explained brieftly and thankfully Shinku just nodded and didn't tried to question him further. Did he sensed his discomfort? If so then Haruyuki should feel utterly indebted for his consideration.

"Haruyuki-kun? Isn't he the one from this morning?" Kuroyukihime sat back into her seat, her fingers crossed together as her elblows were set on the table.

Haruyuki felt his cheeks flush again, wherever it was the victim or not, it looks like that this event was going to be etched into its seers' memories for a long, looong time. "Ah, well apparently he is a transfer student."

"Hm? Is that true Megumi?" Kuroyukihime turned to her friend who nodded in return with papers in her hands. "It seems it is Hime, he is indeed the transfer student in 2nd year, Nikaidou Shinku-kun."

"I passed across him this morning yet he wasn't going to school, though I hope that he isn't skipping classes right on his first day, may I still ask for the reasons Nikaidou-kun?"

If it was Haruyuki, he felt like he would have flinched under her gaze studying him so throughfully and thus he couldn't help but feel himself be impressed of the fact that Shinku didn't flinched under it as he answered calmly and smoothly, "I had some business with my relatives before coming here, I did informed the school that I would be late though."

Kuroyukihime looked at Megumi once again who nodded in response and confirmation about his words, she then look back at Shinku. "Understood, since you have a proper reason we would let it pass, but next time please inform about the exact time you will arrive."

"Yes, thank you very much." Shinku bowed and was dismissed in order to finally go to classes. Haruyuki was about to follow him but, "―Ah, wait, Haruyuki-kun!" He immediately stopped walking once he heard his senpai's voice and turned around reluctantly to see Kuroyukihime with her hand extended towards him.

"What, what is it Senpai?" He couldn't help but stutters, much to his embarrassment. Shinku was already out of view, he must have went back first.

Kuroyukihime opened her mouth but no words come out right, so she retract her hand and after a little while, spoke out hesitantly: "...Is there anything you want to say to me?"

"Eh? Well... I guess I don't...?"

"...Did you truly just came here in order to guide Nikaidou-kun?"

"I–I guess it is."

"...I see." With that Kuroyukihme's shoulders slumped down once again much to Haruyuki's panic, and the fact that the glare Megumi sent to him was now intensified didn't helped much either. The only thing he could do now was to do what he thought of doing since the very beginning; aka, running away, and this time he didn't hesitated a single second.

* * *

"Hm... I guess I should have waited for Arita-kun back then... I don't even know where are the classrooms." Shinku rubbed the back of his head again, this time it was more because he was troubled than in pain. He originally just wanted to offer his future classmate a bit of privacy and yet here he is now, just wandering aimlessly in the corridors and hallways.

Then something was received in his Neuro-Linker. _'Oh... It's from Fuu-chan.'_ Shouldn't she be in classes? As a honor student, when did she had the time to send him that? So he wondered as he opened the file containing the mail.

'To Shinkkun, are you doing well in your new school? Did you made good friends~? There are people that Onee-chan knows over there like Sacchan so I hope that you would be able to get along well! From, Fuu-chan~ (^^)'

 _'Seriously... I just arrived and you expect me to have made friends already? I can't even answer how I'm doing while the first day didn't even ended and calling yourself "Onee-chan" before switching to "Fuu-chan" on your own is way too confusing...'_ Shinku internally sighed. He would reply her later on, if he were to do so she would surely keep on making him discuss with her. But there was also another possibility like she would keep on checking her mail box in order to see wherever he had answered her or not every passing minutes. This showed how much she could be unpredictable and how well he knew her to just guess it from experience.

Then he found another message into his mailbox but this time the sender's name was hidden, however upon reading the content of this message he ended up frowning unknowingly as his look turned more serious.

'Recent affairs of avatars' clothing and equipment being robbed in school networks, skilled hacker, this school may be targeted next.'

 _'This is... Should I take care of this myself, or... should I left it to them?'_ He wondered, a hand on his chin, deep in thought. It was until that an adult who happened to pass by called out to him, "Err... Are you perhaps Nikaidou Shinku-kun, the transfer student? I am your next hour's classroom teacher, the classes are going to start soon so how about you regain your place quickly?"

"Yes, thank you very much!" Witht hat Shinku smiled and walked away, all traces of his earlier seriouslness were gone and now he was all smiling once again. However what was going through his mind in this moment of silence, no one knew what it was at that time.

* * *

 **A/N.:** **And finally they met face to face once again and this time officially... I wonder if I captured well Haruyuki's character? That I didn't made the canon characters too OOC? I hope I did well at least. I made Fuuko like this after seeing how she is spoiling Utai in both the games and how it seemed in the novel's illustrations so I thoguht that maybe we could have her do the same for Shinku.**

 **[ REVIEW CORNER]**

 ** _– Tsuki **'s **review at the previous chapter: _**"Hope you update soon :)"

 ** _My answer to your review:_** Thank you for reviewing, I'll try to update as much as I can! (^^)

 ** _– SentinalSlice **'s **review at the previous chapter: _**"I hope that we see Kirito soon. Anyways, keep up the great work!"

 ** _My answer to your review:_** If only you knew... I feel really like giving you the spoiler but I don't want to make the other readers angry... I'll do my best though to keep up the work, thanks for the compliment by the way!

 ** _– marhaenaldi123 **'s **review at the previous chapter: _**"Hm..."

 _ **My answer to your review:** _I don't understand what you are trying to say, please be more precise about it.


	6. An awkward socializing

**A/N.:** **Sorry for the late update, I took time because of rewriting my main fanfic and also because of my studies. It's close to the end of our school year now and when summer holidays would arrive now, I wouldn't be in highschool anymore... I'm feeling nervous because of it, especially since I need to not lower my grades any further, besides the big exams are for soon too and with the choices for universities. (TT_TT)**

* * *

"―Hey, Haru. There's something that I wanted to ask since a while, but..."

"What is it, Taku?"

"Is the transfer student an acquaintance of yours?"

"Ah... Well, I just met him today, so I don't really know about it...?"

"Is that so? He seemed to recognize you though, did you two met just a while before?"

"...If possible, please don't ask me how."

"It's quite hard for me to not do so, after all..." Both Takumu and Haruyuki turned towards the newcomer at their table in the cafetaria. It was no other than the transfer student, Nikaidou Shinku, sitting at a chair near them. The man himself could only smile awkwardly, "Sorry about this. Arita-kun, and... Mayuzumi-kun, was it?"

"Ah, yeah." Takumu nodded awkwardly at Shinku's question.

Trying to ease the atmosphere between the two, Haruyuki changed the subject: "But to think that you were in the same year as us Nikaidou-san, and also in the same class of all the things! If I knew that I would have taken you to our class, sorry about earlier."

"It's alright. Thankfully a teacher helped me so don't worry about it." Shinku waved off gently Haruyuki's worry before adding, "But since we're in the same year, there's no need to use 'san'. If possible I would like us to get along."

"Then, Nikaidou...-kun?"

"Sure, I don't mind." Shinku smiled in return and Haruyuki sighed slightly in relief, _'I'm glad that Nikaidou-kun is a kind person, but...'_ When he turned around he saw that the group attracted a bit of attention among the other students in the cafetaria. Especially from the girls. And the gaze was kind of painful for someone like Haruyuki. He attracted already enough unwanted attention by hanging around Kuroyukihime-senpai who's the most beautiful girl of the school and now it seemed that the attention was only growing further and further with Shinku in addition, he now understood why Takumu felt so awkward about it.

"Nikaidou-kun, may I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" Since Shinku gave his approbation, Takumu continued as his glasses glint slightly reflecting the light and giving him a 'professor-like' vibe like he had been often told, "It seems that you have a large variety of choice but why did you decided to spend your company with us?"

Upon hearing that, Shinku cast his gaze down, he started to take a deep breath before gaving a heavy sigh, surprising both Haruyuki and Takumu as he began to speak: "Since I arrived recently, I don't know anybody else, so I'm glad that I got to be transfered into Arita-kun's class who is someone I'm at least a bit more acquainted than anyone else. So I thought that it may be easier for me to at least hang out with someone I'm just a bit better acquainted with compared to the other strangers until I manage to socialize better with everyone."

"Heh... I see, it's understandable. Well I was lucky to have Haru and Chi-chan in this school as well when I transfered, if I were in a place where I don't know anybody it would indeed have been hard." Takumu nodded at Shinku's words with his arms crossed as if he wanted to show his understanding, however Shinku didn't noticed this as he kept on speaking: "Of course it's not that I'm trying to force my presence into your group, if you truly want me to leave then I will leave..."

"Eh? No, no. It's not about that at all―" They were actually just curious about why he approached them instead of someone else, but it seems that they accidentally made him believe that they didn't wanted of him with them, that they wanted to exclude him from their group.

Before they knew it Shinku's voice became more and more depressed at each second and then he finally slammed his hands on the table, the sudden action made the two other boys flinch at the sudden noise and pressure. Though his current facial expression wasn't visible, it was easy to guess that he wasn't in good mood but was neither in a furious one, with how there seemed to be depressing blue wavy lines floating above his head and the air around him grew dark and gloomy.

"I... I... I'm always surrounded by girls I don't even know, and they are unecessarily close! Because of that I'm bad at handling them! The only one among them I'm comfortable with is my childhood friend Fuu-chan, and because of that for a reason I don't know, guys don't even talk to me! Is that bad for me to have guys friends with who I want to talk with?! I'm embarrassed to admit it but my only friend since primary school is Fuu-chan! I want other friends too! And if possible more guys than girls! It's not like I hate them but in either ways I'm feeling so isolated! It's fine for you guys to reject me but can't you do it after you learn a bit more about me? I'm begging you, please...!"

""..."" Haruyuki and Takumu could only look awkwardly at the youth with wine-colored hair slamming the palm of his hand against the side of the table in a repetitive manner without raising his face up. Both him and Takumu looked at each other once before looking back at Shinku. Haruyuki put down the spoon on the plate of his cutlet curry rice and looked around him, they ended up attracting even more attention because of Shinku's earlier display. Everyone was looking at them, and were frowning at them, at them but not Shinku, there's no doubt that they didn't heard the conversation between them and that they were mistaking the scene for him and Takumu bullying Shinku. It would be the best to dismiss that by distance themselves from him before it become a too big thing.

 _'However refusing Nikaidou-kun right now after he showed us something piteful like that would be too cruel.'_ Even though his first image of him being overflowing with confidence (which he admired a bit till that just now) got a bit broken with that earlier view, he still wanted to get along with him.

Though their circumstances were differents, Haruyuki could understand a bit to how Shinku feel. Because of his ridiculous appearance, Haruyuki had been often mocked, though it wasn't the same case for Shinku, both experienced the feeling of being isolated and neither wanted to experience it again. It seemed that this 'Fuu-chan' friend of Shinku wasn't present in the school so it must had made him felt lonely, Haruyuki could relate about how he felt when Taku was still in another middle school and Chiyu wasn't in the same class as him just about one year ago. For someone like Shinku to be like that, he must have been utterly lonely up until now... maybe he wasn't spending enough time with his childhood friend?

Haruyuki thought that popular guys had it nice but it seemed that the unvoluntary ones have thier own rough time too... from the reaction of what he just saw, it wouldn't be surprising for Shinku to one day gains androphobia if this continue to happen...

 _'And besides he didn't looked at me in any wrong way even though I looked like this.'_ Many of his classmates weren't geting along with him because of his round and pig-like appearance in the past, slowly Haruyuki became used to it since he got that fat, there were more polite people who showed surprise about his appearance and didn't treated him bad but didn't looked at him better, to the point where Haruyuki became good at recognizing that. However there was nothing like that in Shinku's gaze, no discrimination, no pity, nothing but curiosity about himself as Arita Haruyuki and not someone who looks abnormaly round. Taku and Chiyu were his childhood friends so there weren't in the same case as Shinku, but the only one who had looked at him in such a straight way was not other than...

 _'Kuroyukihime-senpai...'_ Haruyuki remembered fondly their first meetings, then about how she introduced him to Brain Burst which lead him to fight against others but also to connect with others. He was able to become as close to his childhood friends as they used to be in their childhood, to reconcilie with them and then make amends with each other. And not only that he also managed to oget so many comrades now. Thanks to the games that kept him previously islated from the others, now he was surrounded with everyone through them.

 _'The reason for why I'm not isokated anymore is all thanks to Senpai.'_ So if he could do something similar than how she did for someone else, would he become a bit closer to what she is? Could he help another like this? Could he become a better person like this?

Takumu met Haruyuki's gaze and just nodded to him, surely saying 'I'm leaving the choice to you, Haru' with his nod. Haruyuki nodded back at Takumu before turning to Shinku, "Nikaidou-kun."

"...?" Upon hearing his name being called, Shinku looked up from the table, knowing that he has now his attention, Haruyuki continued, trying to sound as composed he can be to not make the situation any further uncomfortable, "Err... I, or rather we, don't mind if you hang out with us. However there are some times when we might not be with able to hang out with you because we are busy but, if it's still fine with you then..." He was especially meant the meetings as members of the Nega Nebulas for the Brain Burst.

However the way Shinku immediately brightened up to the point of making him shining like the sun as he grinned like a happy child who got candies immediately Haruyuki's worries. "Really? You really meant it?!"

"Y–yes..." Upon facing Shinku's sudden resurrection with overflowing energy made Haruyuki falter a bit and if he were standing up then he would be taking a step behind, but thankfully he was sitting on a chair and he had yet fallen from it.

"Thank you so much!" The earnest and open gratitude that Shinku showed can only bring a smile to Haruyuki's face.

Takumu held back a chuckle before directing his hand towards Shinku, "I don't want to interrupt this nice bonding moment but Nikaidou-kun, what about your lunch? Lunch time would soon be over you know?"

"Ah! That's right! Sorry, I'm going to buy something really quick, please continue without me first!" Witht hat Shinku immediately stood up and ran towards the cafetaria that was now close to be closed off.

Takumu and Haruyuki only looked back at each other before smiling wryly. "It was unexpected, huh?"

"Yeah, I expected him to be someone more aloof... turns out he was the complete opposite. I guess that we really can't judge people over their looks."

Then Haruyuki's smile faded a bit as he looked down, "But Taku, are you really fine with it?"

"About Nikaidou-kun's demand?"

"Yeah... Was it alright for me to decide of all this by myself? You said that you were fine with my decision but was it truly for the best for someone like me to do this without consulting anyone first?"

Upon hearing that, Takumu had to hold back a sigh this time, _'As expected it wouldn't be that easy, huh...?'_ Everyone here was aware that Haruyuki's poor self-esteem and were trying to get him to be a little more confident, but it was still difficult. Even though he was now as the brave Silver Crow, the only flying avatar in the whole history of Brain Burst, but in the reality he was just little and round meek Haruyuki. Due to many years of bullying, he didn't dared to go againt others despite the fact that he grew a bit more courageous compared to before, but the time when he would finally be proud of himself won't come any soon...

 _'Well, I don't have any right to judge him over that since I looked down on him in the past.'_ Takumu felt ashamed of his past self even though it was just a while ago, he felt jealous over Chiyuri's attention towards Haruyuki despite the fact that she was dating him, his feelings of wanting to be absolutely be surprised in both the real world and the virtual world. He didn't hesitated to use his trust towards him and any cheating method he could think of... which was an act that he come to terribly regret after having realized his errors. Thankfully the two made up and became close like they used to be in the past... howeever it doesn't mean that Takumu still doesn't regret his past actions. So taking all that in account...

"Haru." After being called, Haruyuki looked up to meet Takumu's gaze only to meet his friend's reassuring smile, "I'm sure that Master and Chi-chan wouldn't mind it. True it's important to stay focused on the Brain Burst but we still have our real life to take care of. Socializing with the people over there and over here don't seems to have a problem. From what we have seen, Nikaidou-kun doesn't seems like a bad person, so it should be fine to get along with him. He also seems to understand our circumstances over here and didn't tried to question us further. Besides I can understand that you want to help him."

Haruyuki sighed in relief before smiling back at Takumu, "Yeah, thanks!" He was glad for his friend's understanding, that the two made up with each other, and everything that go with it. And not even once it did crossed his mind, that Shinku's knowledge about them was actually far deeper than how it seemed.

* * *

"Ah..."

"What's wrong?" Shinku looked over his shoulder to find Takumu with his finger pointed upward and his mouth slightly opened in realization, of course to someone normal it would have looked like he was touching nothing but air however with how the world became modernized, it ws now easy to guess that there was a visible screen only to him in front of him and he was currently tapping on it through the help of his Neuro-Luinker.

Takumu quickly smiled as he waved Shinku's worry off with his hand, "No don't worry, it's just that me and Haru were suddenly called over."

"By the teachers?"

"No, by a third-year upperclassmen, you can say that it is our club's senior or something like this."

"Eh? Who is it, Taku?" Even Haruyuki seemed puzzled by it now.

Takumu just sighed before coming closer to Haruyuki nd whispered something in his ear out of Shinku's listening range.

(And for some reasons Shinku seems to instead hear the squeals of some female students passing by.)

Shinku was fine with it, if it was something that he should know he was sure that the two would tell him later on, even though he was curious it didn't meant that he should intrude forcefully into people's private life, especially if the two are good people who accepted his miserable display earlier even though they were troubled by it and didn't mocked him for that...

"―"

...However he can't deny that the horrified expression that Haruyuki made only served to strengthen his curiosity, it reminded him of the faces in the horror movies he used to watch with Fuu-chan. Takumu just nodded in a compassionate manner as he put a hand on the shoulder of the now lifeless Haruyuki who turned completely white and devoid of colors, even his clothes. And Shinku was almost sure that he saw Haruyuki's soul being dragged out of his body from his mouth that was hanged open (but he later dismissed it as a hallucination).

"Well then Niakidou-kun, see you later. Can you go back to class first?"

"Sure, don't worry. Now I know the way back properly." Shinku then waved to Takumu and Haruyuki who walked away in the school's corridor as he saw them off, before finally turning around to the opposite side when they were no longer in view. Shinku walked back to his classroom which was the same as this morning before lunchbreak, he opened the slide-door and walked gto his seat before pulling his chair backward and sitting down there. However at the moment he opened his eyes...

"Say say, you're the rumored transfer student Nikaidou Shinku-kun, is it?"

"Nikaidou-kun, are you getting along with this class' Arita-kun and Mayuzumi-kun?"

"Nikaidou-kun, what's your hobbies?"

 _'Ah... Girls!'_ Shinku slightly panicked while sweatdropping slightly as he suddenly froze. Just at a single second when he let his guard down, he found himself being suddenly surrounded by his mortal enemies(?) once again! How come girls alwyas move that fast?! Are they superhumans pretending to be simple school girls?! He can understand that it's full of people he doesn't know sionce he just transfered here but still! Why on earth are they even approaching him? If it's to become friends he would gladly welcome it but it never seems to be that case!

While he was still struggling over how to answer them, they just kept on asking their questions without even noticing Shinku's current condition. "Hey, hey Nikaidou-kun since you just transfered recently you probably don't know but there's rumors about an avatar thief on the school's network."

"...!" This seemed to immediately snap Shinku's awkwardness as he suddenly stood up frol his chair, leaned forward and grabbed the arm of the girl who just spoke about that, forgetting about all his earlier worries. "Eh, what?" The girl of course was surprised by the unexpected bold action of the seemingly shy boy but was even more when he raised his unwavering gaze towards her.

"Can you tell me more about that matter?" His tone was serious and also a bit deeper than how it was usually.

Being stared at with such intense eyes, the girl could only nods in a meek manner, her face flushed with red and her stare blank as she answered him. "Th–there were news about how there was an avatar thief on the school's network, like how it trap people's avatars onto the school network before stealing their clothes or weapons. From what I have heard, he or she uses an avatar wearing a pumpkin head, an armor and using fire weapons."

"I see... And is that information known by everyone?"

"It, it is... The student council said that they would do something for it so..."

"Thank you." With that Shinku finally let go of her hand and felt deep into thoguhts, no longer aware of the environment surrounding him anymore as he was just immersed into his own thoughts, trying to process all the informations he just obtained in a proper order.

"Err, Nikaidou-kun...?"

"Ah, sorry I'm fine." Shinku smiled up to the girls worrying glances around him.

"I see, but why was Niakidou-kun so curious over such a thing?"

"Since I just transferred I didn't knew about any of these so I was going to use the school's network later on but since you warned me beforehand it was really helpful, thank you."

Not expecting such a natural reply compared to his earlier's stuttering, the girl could only nods shyly at the suddn gap between earlier and now (not that she dislike it), "Eh? Well, it's fine, I mean..."

"But by 'student council', could it be..."

"Yes! It's our school's idol, Kuroyukihime-senpai!" The girl spoke dreamily in admiration as she put her hands together, picturing the image of the student council president in her mind, stars present and sparkling in her eyes. "Senpai is really talented, intelligent and she is also very beautiful, but more than anything she isn't boasting about her many talents, she is very modest. Truly the role model of all the female students here and the source of admiration of all the male students~!"

"Heh..." Shinku could only hums in thought as he reminded himself of the student president who was wearing almost only black like her name (or pseudonym? He didn't even understood why she was even allowed to use one in the school) suggest it along with the impression she gave with the way she behave herself.

 _'She was indeed a very pretty and looked like a quite capable person... But well, it isn't much different from Fuu-chan though, albeit that she seemed to be far more serious than how Fuu-chan is.'_ Shinku nodded to himself with his arms crossed. Oh, but however it seemed that she has some awkwardness with the opposite sex with how she behaved around Haruyuki, but with the way they reacted around each other, did they had a fight or something? Well anyway, it wasn't his duty to pry further into the matter (though it made him really, really curious!).

"Anyway, thank you for the informations, it helped me a lot, I'll try to be careful about it."

"I see, I'm glad that it helped you, Nikaidou-kun, see you later!" The girl waved at him and he hesitantly waved back as he sat back on his seat, the girl joined another group of girls and they started to squeal before leaving the classroom, it seemed that they were from another class and just came to see what kind of person was the rumored transfer student. Shinku kept his smile for a while after the girls were no longer in sight, and after one second, two second...

"...Hah~" Shinku sighed deeply as he ran his hand in his hair, then he supported his head with his hand by placing it on his cheek which wzs straight thanks to his elbow that was on the desk as he looked outside the window, a secretive smile on his face away from the other's eyes.

 _'Well I did said that I would be careful to not have my items getting stolen and all... but I didn't said anything about NOT going on the school's network when classes would be over!'_ The expression he had currently on his face seemed like that of a child's who succeeded into lying to his parents in order to avoid to get scolded or who succeeded in his prank.

* * *

 **A/N.:** **Of course the one who called the poor Haruyuki-kun over was no one else but the great Kuroyukihime-senpai and the girls squealing about Haru and Taku is a reference to the anime scene in the bus when some girls passengers mistook the two's relationship and got hyped about it! We also caught a bit more of Shinku's personality here (sorry if his surprising side put you off a bit compared at how he was showed in the previous chapters)! I'm sorry if you find the story quite slowpoke with not much actions but it's because I'm not good at describing those kind of battle scenes, so I hope that you can forgive me for that (I'm also trying to make the story last as long as possible otherwise it would be over too soon). And also sorry again if things don't seems to be in the order of the OVAs, but next chapter would definitively be about Dushka.**

 **[ REVIEW CORNER]**

 ** _SentinalSlice **'s **review at the previous chapter: _**"Don't feel the need to give me any spoilers. Just give all of us readers a new chapter.  
Would a new chapter be considered a spoil in some technicality? I just reread this fanfic, I had forgotten some of the plot, but I'm all caught up now.  
Anyways, please keep up the great work!"

 ** _My answer to your review:_** Thank you very much! You don't know how much those praises means to me! I hope that you'll enjoy the rest of the story too!

 **I'm sorry for bothering everyone with my life problems and thank you for reading, please left a review and I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter too!**


	7. Reverberation

**A/N.:** **After this update, I will concentrate on my main fanfic named "CrossWorld", next month I have to go oversea in order to visit my family so please wait until my next holidays time in my country for the next update and please forgive me for it.**

* * *

 ***DING, DONG, DANG, DONG~***

 _"―It is almost time for everyone to leave the Umesato Junior High local network. Please save the flies you are working on and link out. I repeat―"_

The afterschool's bells rang to inform about the end of the classes, however despite hearing the announce, the Nega Nebulas group composed of Haruyuki, Chiyuri, Takumu and Kuroyukihime stayed in their respective avatars instead of logging out like they were asked to. Kuroyukihime was turning the page of the book she was actually reading, besides her was Chiyuri who was scribbling over a notebook, and a little more faraway from them there was Haruyuki and Takumu were sitting together. All of this for the sake of attracting the culprit by using themselves as a bait and capture him/her.

"Will he come?" Haruyuki in his small and round pink pig-shaped avatar asked.

Takumu, who was in an avatar that ressembled a Tin Man with a body covered with tin and a cone-shaped tin hat on the top of his head, and who was sitting near him on the chair answered: "Who knows? Nothing's happened yet. By the way, you're pretty quiet today, Haru."

Haruyuki then looked down and awkwardly rubbed his round head while mumbling in regret: "I've been screwing up in front of her all day today. I think that I made Kuroyukihime-senpai angry at me..."

"Mad?" Takumu looked at Haruyuki's depressed form in surprise, "It doesn't look like that to me though."

"What do you mean by that?" This time it was Haruyuki who became curious about it as he became slightly hopeful.

"I don't know."

And with that his hope was immediately crushed and replaced with disappointment, if the wise Takumu didn't knew it either then who would?!

"And if I was that knowledgeable on how women's minds work, I wouldn't be having so much trouble myself."

"...Good point." Haruyuki closed his eyes in deep thought, now he couldn't blame his best friend anymore, in that case they were just both victims of the enigma named 'women'.

Takumu did the same as he leaned a bit backward as he placed both his hands onto the flat side of his chair and sighed, "Seriously, girls are impossible to understand."

"I start to understand why Nikaidou-kun is so afraid of them..."

"He must be the one who had the hardest among us..."

""Hah..."" And both of them sighed in unison, showing their perfect combinaison in terms of friendship and trouble, before looking at the two girls of their group who were a little more faraway in front of them.

The two females who were unaware of the males' gazes on them continued their activities, until it was suddenly cut off by the Black King herself, who closed in one movement the book she had been reading. This action surprised the girl in white dress with cat ears, paw and tail (aka Chiyuri) who became curious about it and was about to question her senior but she was beaten to it.

"Chiyuri-kun, let me ask you something."

"Yes?" Chiyuri stopped in her writing to look at Kuroyukihime, as expected of the most beautiful girl of the school, even her network avatar's exquisite appearance didn't losed to her real looks at all, on the contrary it entranced further her beauty in this virtual world. However for some reason, today her beautiful face was clouded with anxiety, doubt and hesitation which are things that are rarely shown onto her confident self, being the brave leader that dirige their legion.

"That is... Am I really that oppressive?" She narrowed her eyes on her book before looking at Chiyuri with a worried gaze, "Do I make people nervous?"

Chiyuri's eyebrow twitched as she sweatdropped, she was in such a shock that she even let her pen drop from her hands as only one answer came from her mouth: "...What?" After all it was so unexpected from her! The admired Kuroyukihime, asking such a thing! Or could it be that she didn't even realized that it was the case? Was she truly obvious about it all this time?! Or was she actually more slow about those things than she let on? Was she truly blind to all the stares directed to her?!

However, unaware of the thoughts of her junior, Kuroyukihime looked downward while frowning, "Haruyuki-kun always shrinks back in my presence. It's painful to see."

"Oh..." It was _then_ that Chiyuri realized it. Of course, even this famous senpai was still a maiden at heart just like her, so of course she would be troubled over how the one she likes thinks about her, especially with how their interactions seemed more distant than usual today. Even though she considered her as a rival, it didn't meant that she didn't pitied her either, after all both of them suffers from the denseness of the man they likes, and it didn't helped mucht hat they fell for the same man, so she could perfectly understand her pain.

So she closed her eyes and answered her to the best she could, "Well, it's true that you aren't the easiest person to approach."

"Really?!"

"Um, I'm afraid so."

"But how weird... Nikaidou-kun wasn't the least nervous when we met."

"Nikaidou-kun? How weird too... From what I have heard from Haru and Takkun, he is quite nervous around women."

"Eh? Is that so?"

"I don't really know either..." It seems that both opinions of the transfer student observed from different points of views were clashing against each other but they decided to leave it as it is for now.

"...I see... So it really is my fault."

Chiyuri immediately panicked upon seeing Kuroyukihime's depressed form as she quickly waved her hands, "But in this case, it's more Haru's fault than―"

"Huh...? Isn't it everyone? What are you still doing in such a place~?"

""""―?!"""" The four all turned towards the voice of the newcomer in shock, they didn't expeced anyone besides them to have stayed behind! And of all people, it had to be―

"Nikaidou-kun?!" The one who called out to the newcomer was no other than Haruyuki who recognized him the first.

Shinku's avatar was similar to an humanoïd version of the white rabbit in the story of 'Alice in the Wonderland', with white rabbit ears and a fluffy and round rabbit tail, he also had a kind of light and thin costume with a pocket watch attached on it. Otherwise his appearance was exactly the same as his real self in the real world with the same hair and eye color.

"W–what are you doing here?! Shouldn't everyone have already logged out with the announce just now?!"

"I was about to ask the same things to you guys, I still had some things to take care of about my transfer so I asked the teachers and they gave me their permissions to do it now." He explained nonchalantly, unaware of how bad his timing was and of what they were about to do, besides the time limit was close...!

"A–anyway, please log out immediately―!"

"Eh? But what about the four of you?"

"That, that is..." Haruyuki's panic made him hesitate and he was now out of excuses at Shinku's innocent questioning.

"We beg you, Nikaidou-kun!" This time it's Takumu who plead him.

"Mayuzumi-kun, you too? Why are all of you so panicked about?" From his reactions, it seemed that he didn't knew about the avatar thief unfortunately. They didn't expected that it wouldn't reach his ears with all the gossip and rumors among the students recently.

Suddenly Kuroyukihime decided to save him by standing up from her chair and pointing her umbrella at Shinku, "Nikaidou-kun, we have matter of the student council to take care of here and now, we must apologize for the rudeness but you will have to take care of your matter latter on!"

"Eh~? But the teacher―"

" _ **Immediately**_!" Under the preassure of Kuroyukihime's command, Shinku widened his eyues in surprise before sighing wearily and opened his screen with a wry smile on his face as if he had shown that he just gave up, "Okay, okay, but if the teacher yells at me, I'll count on you guys to explain the situation for me, okay?" However before he could even push at the log out button―

 ***DONG... DONG...***

―Suddenly along with the sounds of the bells akin to ones of a church, the virtual space turned gray. Everyone but Shinku gasped at that, they looked at Shinku and his frozen screen.

"Huh? How weird, what happened? This space became colorless... And for some reason I can't log out at all..."

 _'Damn it, we were too late!'_ Kuroyukihime bite her lower lip in frustration, Shinku didn't managed to escape the trap in time... she didn't wanted to drag someone innocent into all this matter but it looks like they had no other choice, so she directed the orders towards her followers. "Everyone! Prepare yourself for the upcoming attack, even though there was some unexpected intrusion, we will still proceed to the same plan!"

"""Yes!"""

Kuroyukihime nodded back at them before turning at Shinku, "Nikaidou-kun, it's quite unfortunate but we can't make you escape anymore. So hide somewhere until the matter is finished! If something happen to you, we will make sure to deal with it afterward so don't be worried about it!"

"For some reason the way you are putting it makes me more worried than anything else but I guess that I'll do as you say for now!" 'If he keep on asking questions then his life would probably be threatened...', that was the thought going through Shinku's mind based on his impression and observation of the situation, and thus he did as he was told and quickly ran to hide somewhere safe...

Suddenly a mysterious avatar with an armored pumpkin head and a glowing red eye showing through a dark hole pointed his scythe towards them where the tip seemed like a cannon. "Trick or Trigger!" So he screamed before shooting light-speed bullets at them.

"Kyaaaah?!" Chiyuri screamed in fear, momentarily forgetting what she had to do in the sudden moment, so Kuroyukihime quickly moved in front of her and deflected the incoming bullet with her umbrella, "Commence the plan!"

"Roger!" After that, both of them ran into separate ways, passing through both sides of the avatar thief to confuse him, the thief pursued them before looking at left then right... and ultimately chased after Chiyuri who was more close and visible than Kuroyukihime who already became a part of the forest's darkness.

"Taku!" Haruyuki called out to his best friend and both shared a knowing look and a nod with each other in confirmation, the proof of a deep trust between the two and a bond where they don't need words anymore in order to understand each other. They leaned their elbows and leaned forward onto a nearby table and prepared their sniping gun. They waited for Chiyuri to lure the target towards this empty space where they would be able to shoot him down.

"―I got you! Welcome, Lantern-chan!" They could hear her jumping from one tree to the other, and then Chiyuri jumped over a bush with the 'Lantern' following her closely.

"Here I go...!" With those words, she made a higher jump and landed into a tree, being hidden in the leaves.

Having lost any traces of her, the thief stopped and looked around only to find Takumu and Haruyuki waiting for him.

"It's over for you, damn pumpkin!"

 ***TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!***

Both Haruyuki and Takumu were showering him with all their bullets (or rather Haruyuki was so eager about it as if he was venting out his stress and thus surprised Takumu to the point that he stopped shooting). After a cloud of smoke appeared on the intruder and his pumpkin mask broke, Haruyuki smiled in victory upon seeing that, "We did it!"

"...Owowowow~"

""...?"" Both Haruyuki and Takumu stood still upon hearing a familiar voice and then looked at each other before frowning. For some reason, it was the voice of the one they heard during the whole day and even though their brains showed recognization, their minds refused to accept it as such, after all this person shouldn't even be here of all places, right?

"Geez... Of what is this all about? Making such a ruckus... You better owe me an explanation when everything would be over."

 _'Ah... And that soft way of complaining, it is truly exactly like him...'_ Both thought so in a serene manner before immediately snapping their eyes open and saw that at that their right, was Shinku who held his rabbit (why rabbit?) ears painfully as he shivered over the ruckus they made earlier because of the shooting. Ah, as expected it was Nikaidou-kun again...

"―Wait a sec', Nikaidou-kun again?!"

"What are you doing here?! Didn't Master told you to hide?!"

"But I did! She told me to hide so I hide there! How could I know that the two of you would also come here?! ...Wait, Mayuzumi-kun, I answered without thinking but who is this 'Master' you were talking about?" Seriously... This guy's timing and luck were truly the worst possible.

"Eh, ah, well, that is..." Takumu immediately panicked, since he was always calling Kuroyukihime like this because she was kind like a mentor to them by giving them advices like a veteran would give to a beginner player and more than anything she is their leader, the master and king of their legion, which is why he adressed to her as such, of course outside of Brain Burst he make sure to call her differently. But unfortunately he temporarily forgot this habit because of his shock of Shinku's surprise presence besides them... Now how will he explain that?

However unfortunately for him (or fortunately since it saved him from answering and messing up further at the same time), the thief who was yet defeated smiled before taking off his cape and saying in a voice that was no longer lagging to the point of not being able to recognize its gender anymore but a proper female voice, "Nice trigger." She said as she leaned the scythe on her shoulder.

"""A girl?!""" Not only Haruyuki and Takumu, but even Shinku was shocked by this. Yes, they originally thought that it was a man, but it wasn't the case. The avatar was that of a female, of a girl, a small and petite blonde girl wearing a tube top dress. But before the could even react, the girl started to shoot at them with the cannon of her scythe and even managed to shoot off Takumu's helmet in the action.

"Like the hell I'll lose to some FPS!" Haruyuki took both of his guns and made a jump while keep on shooting, the girl managed to block off some of the bullets that were coming towards her with the handle of her scythe but some still managed to hit her.

She grunted and tried to retreat by running away but when she turned around, she found the previously hidden Kuroyukihime and Chiyuri in front of her, and behind her were Haruyuki and Takumu, she couldn't escape by the side too―they cut her off from any escape routes by surrounding her, she fell into their trap. But even so she wasn't going to give up. With a war cry she launched forward on Kuroyukihime and swung her scythe of all her strength towards her!

"Senpai!" Chiyuri screamed out, fearing for her upperclasswoman's safety but the latter didn't lost the least of her cool unsheathed her sword from the umbrella that was used as a scabbard and blocked the blade of the scythe with her own blade before pushing the preassure away.

The unknown blonde girl jumped backward on a tree's branch before pointing the canon of her scythe to all the people here and shot a bullet through each of them, Haruyuki, Chiyuri, Takumu, Kuroyukihime, and even Shinku who was more far away compared to them. They could feel the preassure of the bullet passing through them but it soon disappeared, leaving nothing else but that weird sensation of earlier. No particular damage done or seen.

"...?!" And suddenly, weird patterns appeared on their chests where they had been shot and started to shine much to their shock.

The unknown girl at the tip of the scythe of the unknown avatar started to shine in response as she screamed, "Gate, OPEN!" After she said those same words, a blinding blue light appeared in response, and the Nega Nebulas felt their bodies leviate in the air at a high speed while all they could do was to scream because of the sudden preassure of the unexpected movement―

* * *

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

"...Huh...?" Shinku blinked when he still found himself in the gray space of the school's network, however when he looked around him Haruyuki and the others were nowhere to be found.

 _'Wasn't I touched by that bullet like they were? So why am I the only one who didn't got transported along with them...? ...Ah! Don't tell me...'_ As if he had realized something about and immediately opened his screen, as expected log out was impossible but it didn't meant that it was the same for checking the status of his avatar, he went into the parameters and went further down, before...

"GAH―! I completely forgot to lower the defenses of my avatar! If the defenses are always at max then no wonder I didn't got taken along with them!" Shinku ruffled his hair in disappointment before screaming in annoyance, the source at which it's directed is none other than his personal negligeance of the situation.

After hearing about the rumors from his classmates about the avatar thief which confirmed the informations he just received, Shinku decided to enter the school's network and use himself as a bait to lure the culprit out, he was also aware that the Nega Nebulas would try to do something about it with Kuroyukihime using her authority as a member of the student council but he didn't expected that they would do so with the exact same timing. Of course the fact that he got the teacher's approbation for this was also a lie to stay longer, if this was getting found then he would surely be really in trouble, all he hoped is that they wouldn't speak about it to the teachers.

About the defenses of his avator, it was something that he installed himself, he may not look like it but he was pretty good in things like manipulating technology but also with computer programm. The defenses that he used were akin to a system anti-virus, in order to protect his avatar's datas from being corrupted, stolen or even exposed. Because of that his kidnapping only had failed. Of course he also had made his researchs on that kidnapper in question and thought that it was his responsability to stop her but before he could do anything, they already got away. And it's not like he could forcefully go where they were now that he had 'lost' the invitation that was given to him, which was deleted immediately after it came in contact with his auto-defensive programm.

 _'As a former player of Accel Assault, I thought that I should be the one to stop her but... I have no choice but to leave it to them now, it's not like she truly meant bad things anyway and I can't give them any back-up either.'_ Giving up in a slightly disheartened manner as he sighed in disappointment, Shinku slapped his cheeks in order to get a hold of himself. He then stretched his arms upward before clicking on his still opened screen again, and...

"Well, there's no use to stay waiting for them here any longer, and trying to leave here with normal methods won't work either, so let's try to go home by hacking!"

* * *

" _By the way, Haruyuki-kun. When we had that fusion towards the end... you seemed to be trying something but then backed off!_ "

" _Uh, uh_..."

 _"Why is why Sa―Senpai should..."_

" _I–I'm sorry! I was just caught in the moment... or just testing my courage...!_ "

"... _Is that so_..."

" _But_..."

" _...?_ "

" _Someday, when I have enough courage... please let me call you... with Senpai's real name!_ "

" _...! ...All right, until then I shall be known as Kuroyukihime._ "

" _Okay...!_ "

" _―_ "

 _'You know what, guys? I'm happy that you the two of you make up with each other and all, and also that you managed to stop Dushka and moreover to win against her and come back here with your own strength... However... aren't you forgetting something here?!'_ Shinku screamed in his mind as compared to the members of the Nega Nebulas, he was not on the rooftop together with them but alone ont he other side of the door leading to the rooftop, with his hand olding the doorknob and ready to turn it but still being unable to do so.

No matter how he looked at it, they were so taken with their hard-gained victory that they completely forgotten that Shinku was also on the scene previously (at least before their kidnapping to Accel Assault). Wherever he should feel relieved or vexed about that, Shinku was truly at loss. Of course he could at least announce his presence and he also wanted to do so, however something prevented him from doing so...

 _'Are they aware that there is someone here, on the other side of this closed door? Can't they see my shadow through it? Because I had been listening to them since earlier and even though the words weren't directed to me, I'm still feeling super embarassed! What with those propose-like words, Arita-kun? Were you even the type of person who would say such things?! I don't even need to take a look to guess that the mood over there is pink and fluffy like cotton candy! Gah, if I listen anymore of this, I'll end up vomitting sugar so much it's sweet! I have a sudden irresistible need and envy for coffee! And I want it 100% BLACK!'_

With those kinds of thoughts in mind, Shinku gave up and let go of the doorknob before walking away and descending the stairs. If this is what the other two members are forced to see everyday then he must truly give them his condoleances. Or rather, if they were also present, why didn't they do something about it? It would be even weirder for them to not have heard it at all while Shinku heard the whole thing. He didn't even need a mirror to know that he is still blushing from it, seriously is he a maiden?! It's more Fuu-chan who likes those kind of romantic stories!

Suddenly when he arrived outside of the building, at the door's opening, Shinku looked upward towards the blue sky before a small smile spread on his face. _'But in the end, they still worked hard, didn't they?'_ Then as if he made his decision, he used opened the screen given by his Neuro-Linker before tapping a bit on it and sending a call to a certain someone.

 ***Beep, beep _―_ ***

"Ah, hello, Fuu-chan? It's me. Actually about the diet thing you've told me, I think I have an idea to propose after all."

It was his own mistake this time and instead of taking care of his business, he ended up lefting them do the whole thing and they completed it magnificiently without any help that he could offer, everything was finished before he could even do anything, and he felt slightly guilty for that. The fact that he was keeping on lying to them despite them being good persons didn't helped either. So the least he could do for now in order to pay them back, was to at least reward them for their efforts even if they don't know it's from him.

* * *

 **A/N.:** **And finally after this chapter, we would pass to the second OVA of the Accel World anime version! Hot springs trip for everyone and diet (for Haruyuki that is), with Shinku together along the Nega Nebulas group!**

 **[ REVIEW CORNER]**

 ** _SpectralTigger 's review at the previous chapter: _**"I'm sooo happy that this fanfic is back, I loved it so much. Also don't feel sorry, it's fine but this was a great chapter!"

 ** _My answer to your review:_** So you were a follower of the previous version? Thank you for following this new version too! I hope that the differences between the two versions didn't troubled you though... Anyway, I hope that you will enjoy this story and it would please you too!


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